The Perfect Diet

With everything out there, it's hard to figure out what the perfect diet is. This article breaks done what some of the research says and how to use it to guide your "perfect" diet.

The perfect diet: greatly debated, highly sought after, but is it real? Like figuring out why a pizza is round and put into a square box and eaten in triangles…it’s complicated. I mean, what are the metrics or standard that one would even use to judge a perfect diet? This article will break down aspects of a successful diet and hopefully lend you valuable information of dieting.

Looking at what the research supports is a good place to start. Many people choose a diet based off of what their friend, spouse, sibling or neighbor has done. What scientific research does, is takes people’s friends, spouses, siblings and neighbors and controls certain variables to help support or oppose beliefs.

Your mom calls and tells you she’s lost 30 pounds in the last two months after someone suggested she start taking a seed extract of some sort. What your mother doesn’t realize or doesn’t credit any of the changes to, is at the same time she started that supplement she also began to walk around the block every night, she made nutritional changes that decreased he caloric intake and is getting better sleep. All this absolutely affects her weight, but since she lost the weight after taking a particular supplement, she credits all the weight loss to that supplement. Who can blame her, we are more likely to credit one change than acknowledge the multiple small changes.

What research does is ask “was it the pill that made those changes?” a study would control for outside factors, in this example: the diet and exercise. It would then get multiple people and see if they all exercise and ate the same, would this seed extract have an effect on weight. No matter from who or how many anecdotes you’ve heard, empirical data should be what builds your foundations.

"No matter from who or how many anecdotes you’ve heard, empirical data should be what builds your foundations. "

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Switching gears, let’s look at what research says about popularized diets. A meta-analysis done in 2014 (Johnston et al. 2014), looked at numerous studies that compared a wide variety of named diets over 6 and 12 months. The diets examined are as follows: LEARN, Moderate Macronutrients, Low Fat, Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, Ornish, Jenny Craig, Volumetrics, Rosemary Conley, Biggest loser, Nutridsystem, Slimming World. Some of these diets are mainstream and almost buzzword diets, Atkins, Weight Watchers, while others may not be as well known.

The biggest finding is that ALL studies showed weight loss was achieved when compared to no diet. This means: low-carb, low-fat and everything in between was conducive to weight loss. Furthermore, the meta-analysis found that the difference in weight loss between diets was very little and “likely to be unimportant to many seeking to lose weight”.

So what did they say was important? Finding a diet that is “one that is best adhered to by individuals so that they can stay on the diet as long as possible.” The authors go on to say that clinicians do not need to find a “one-size-fits-all diet” but individuals should be encouraged to use a diet that an individual can stick to.

This meta-analysis reinforces the importance of adherence to a diet. It is clear that calorie restricted diets of any sort can be effective in weight loss. Many studies suggest that the difference in weight loss between diets is insignificant. Think of it this way, would you rather be on a diet that you hate and cuts out your favorite food or a diet that feels less restrictive? Would you follow the harder diet strictly for 12 months to possibly lose an extra few pounds over the period of a year (extra half a pound a month)?

"So what did they say was important? Finding a diet that is “one that is best adhered to by individuals so that they can stay on the diet as long as possible.”'

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Let’s look at a more recent study that compares low-carb (LC) to low-fat (LF) (Gardner et al. 2018). This was a huge study that had over 600 participants and lasted 12 months. Participants of the study were randomly placed in LC or HF with no caloric target given. What they did next is unique and interesting.

Researchers started participants on either 20g of carbs or 20g of fat per day, depending on the group they were in. This is VERY low levels, probably unsustainable for most people, and the research reflects that. After the two month period the groups could then start to add back fats or carbs to the LOWEST level they could MAINTAIN. This ended up being around 42g of fat for the low fat group and around 96g of carbs for the low carb group. This amounts are much more sustainable for the average person. Although there was no caloric target, researchers asked that participants try to increase vegetables intake while minimizing refined carbs and added sugar.

So what happened?

The LF group lost 11.7 pound and the LC group lost 13.2 pounds. Although there was a difference, it was only 1.5 pounds over 12 months (0.125 lbs/month), this difference was considered statistically insignificant. Statistical insignificance just means based off the data the researchers cannot be positive that if the exact study was ran again the results would be the same.

This study also looked at how genotype could affect weightless. I won’t go into that part but the data suggests that genotype made no significant difference. Neither did insulin secretion, another buzzword you hear in regards to weight loss.

But that’s not the end. Let’s looks at the difference WITHIN each group. There was a range of over 80lbs between individuals within the groups. Using the same diet or dietary instructions some people lost upwards of 60-70lbs while others gained 20lbs! Since individuals were instructed to eat as little fats/carbs as possible it is possible to chalk this difference up to the individual’s ability to adhere to those guidelines. This is another studied that emphasizes that different diets can be effective for weight loss and the effectiveness of the diet may be in the ability to stick with the diet.

Back to the question at hand

So what makes the perfect diet? It seems that the perfect diet is one that you can adhere to. Research supports (there’s more than what I cited here) the idea that there is very little difference in weight loss between diets and that the effectiveness of the diet may depend on your ability to maintain it over an extended period of time. Find a strategy that aids in limiting your caloric intake to allow you to attain and maintain weight loss.

"It seems that the perfect diet is one that you can adhere to."

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Research backed guidelines for the perfect diet:

Create a caloric deficit and maintain higher levels of protein intake

Limiting your calories to less than you expend is dieting 101. Weight loss is achieved when you are in a caloric deficit. Protein serves many benefits when dieting and research supports the need for increased protein while trying to lose weight

Exercise

Dieting is extremely important to weight loss, but exercise can increase that weight loss and help maintain it.

Get nutritional guidance

Beside diet and exercise, successful weight loss is increased with nutritional guidance, especially in the beginning. Dieting is a skill and like most skills if you don’t know what you’re doing you probably won’t be good at it. Seek help from a trusted source.

Maximize whole foods and minimize processed foods and added sugars

Whole foods are not magic, processed foods are not poison. Any time you try to increase or decrease a food you automatically become more conscious of what you eat which is a very important factor in weight loss. Whole foods can also help with the increase in fiber and protein which help with weight loss.

Most importantly, choose a diet program you can stick to

Again, adherence is so incredible important when it comes to weight loss. You must choose something you can stick with long term. Diets don’t have to be miserable. Small sustainable changes over time is the best strategy for maintained weight loss.

Johnston, B. C., Kanters, S., Bandayrel, K., Wu, P., Naji, F., Siemieniuk, R. A., ... & Jansen, J. P. (2014). Comparison of weight loss among named diet programs in overweight and obese adults: a meta-analysis. Jama, 312(9), 923-933.

Gardner, C. D., Trepanowski, J. F., Del Gobbo, L. C., Hauser, M. E., Rigdon, J., Ioannidis, J. P., ... & King, A. C. (2018). Effect of low-fat vs low-carbohydrate diet on 12-month weight loss in overweight adults and the association with genotype pattern or insulin secretion: the DIETFITS randomized clinical trial. Jama, 319(7), 667-679.